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October 12, 2015

The Democrat Party Perfectly Defined

For decades, the Democrats have been getting away with portraying Republicans as hateful men who do the bidding of the wealthy at the expense of the country’s poor and middle class.

Yet as the Associated Press reported just before Christmas, “it’s actually the liberal-minded who shelled out the most cash in the just completed midterm elections.”

What’s more, “the two biggest super PACs of 2014,” the “Senate Majority PAC and House Majority PAC,” were both backed by Democrats.

The AP, using data from the Center for Responsive Politics, continues:

“Among the 183 groups that wrote checks of $100,000 or more to another group, Democrats had a 3-to-1 cash advantage.”

“Overall, for the campaign season that just ended, donors who gave more than $1 million sent roughly 60 cents of every dollar to liberal groups.”

“Among the 10 biggest donors, Democrats outspent Republicans by an almost 3-to-1 margin.”

“Among groups that funneled more than $100,000 to allies, the top of the list tilted overwhelmingly toward Democrats — a group favoring the GOP doesn’t appear on the list until No. 14.”

A little more than two years ago, the AP published a similar story, only this time it reported that “in Congress, the wealthiest among us are more likely to be represented by a Democrat than a Republican.”

“Of the 10 richest House districts,” said the AP, “only two have Republican congressmen. Democrats claim the top six.”

We reported ourselves in April that “according to OpenSecrets.org, from 1989 to 2014 rich donors gave Democrats $1.15 billion — $416 million more than the $736 million given to the GOP.” We also noted that “among the top 10 donors to both parties, Democrat supporters outspent Republican supporters 2-to-1.”

How does all this square with the conventional wisdom that, as Rolling Stone put it three years ago, “modern-day Republicans have become, quite simply, the Party of the 1% — the Party of the Rich”?

Truly this is a myth that has become widely accepted as fact. Last year, a HuffPost/YouGov poll found that 51% of Americans believe the GOP is “most interested in helping” the rich.

Likewise, a CNN/ORC International poll conducted earlier this year found that 69% of the country thinks “the policies of the Republican Party generally favor the rich.”

Unfortunately, the Democrats won’t stop tarring the GOP with the party-of-the-rich tag. They’ve long had the country believing it and will keep doing so even if it is untrue. After all, it’s a lie that works.